President Donald Trump’s new press secretary didn’t make it through her first full week on the job.
Trump fired Katie Zacharia on Friday after less than a week in the position, The New York Times reported, citing three people familiar with the matter.
Fox News separately confirmed her departure, with a senior White House official saying Zacharia was “transitioning out” of the role. Trump announced her hiring seven days earlier, and she started Monday.
Her abrupt ouster followed a disastrous first briefing and days of questions about whether she misrepresented her legal credentials. Neither the White House nor Zacharia responded to the Times’ requests for comment.
By Friday morning, Trump was publicly suggesting his new White House flack should reconsider whether she wanted the job.
“Honestly, if I were you, I’d reconsider,” Trump told reporters, recounting their conversation.
“Katie, do you need this? I don’t think you need this.”
Speaking before leaving the White House for Georgia, Trump said Zacharia had been treated “very unfairly” and “brutalized by the media,” The Associated Press reported.
“I told her, ‘I think you’re better off being happy,’” he said.
Asked who might replace her, Trump said plenty of people would want the position.
The firing capped a brutal debut for the former conservative TV commentator, whose legal background and wooden performance quickly overshadowed her appointment.
Trump first referred to Zacharia as “an attorney” when he announced his decision to replace Karoline Leavitt with the former Trump Media & Technology Group communications adviser.
But her credentials soon came under scrutiny.
Yes, Zacharia graduated from Pepperdine University’s law school. However, she never passed a bar exam and failed the one she took in California shortly after graduating, ABC News reported.
CNN also found that the 41-year-old had called herself “either a lawyer or a corporate lawyer” on multiple occasions. She has also described herself on social media as an “attorney” or “legal strategist.”
Zacharia said Thursday that she consulted with Pepperdine’s president about how she could identify herself in media appearances. According to Zacharia, he told her not to use “attorney” or “esquire,” but said “lawyer” was acceptable.
Her attempts to explain her background only brought more questions.
After her first press briefing on Tuesday, Oct. 13, reporters gathered on the White House South Lawn asked where she passed the bar. Standing behind Trump as they prepared to leave for a campaign rally, she answered, “In China.”
Later, during a brief phone call with The New York Times, she explained that she couldn’t hear the question.
“I assumed the question was, ‘Where were you after law school?’” Zacharia said.
“That’s all I could hear over the sound of Marine One,” she insisted, adding that “wanting to respect protocol, the distance behind the president kept me from moving closer to hear the question.”
A White House official told The Hill that Zacharia moved to China with her husband after graduating because of his job at a U.S. private equity firm. She worked as an associate at the Zhong Lun Law Firm in Beijing from August 2011 to June 2013.
“I practiced international transaction law, with all the appropriate credentials,” she told NewsNation.
Social media exploded over Zacharia’s descriptions of her legal background.
“The new D.E.I. that racists are just fine with: Dumb Entitled Incompetent,” one Threads commenter wrote.
Another joked, “Illegally Blonde.”
A third summed it up in three words: “What a mess.”
But Zacharia didn’t need a legal background to serve as press secretary. Her performance at the podium created a separate problem.
During what became her first and final briefing, she stiffly read from a prepared statement, took three questions from reporters and wrapped up after just 14 minutes.
While Trump and his communications team initially praised her performance, others inside the administration offered a much harsher assessment, according to The Daily Beast.
“She could barely read,” a senior Trump official said in a leaked text message, the outlet reported.
Another contended, “She looked as if she was handed a sheet of paper at the last minute and wasn’t prepared properly.”
Social media took none too kindly to her debut.
“Trump’s minions are trashing his new White, Entitled, Incompetent (WEI) press secretary in leaked texts. Funny how they never trash the bumbling buffoon who keeps casting people like her… and them,” a Threads commenter wrote.
By Thursday night, Zacharia was fielding questions from Fox News host Sean Hannity about her abbreviated briefing and legal credentials, The Daily Beast reported.
A day later, she was out.
